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The case study uses a strategic foresight method, scenario-planning, to examine the strategic options for a financial services firm. As such, it covers the fields of strategy, environment of business, innovation, digital disruption and organizational change as they relate to the firm’s ability to adapt to changes in the environment of business in an emerging market context.

The case was developed with master's-level students in mind, particularly those seeking a master of business administration, masters in strategic foresight or related management degrees.

The case of NEDBANK, a longstanding and successful financial services firm based in South Africa is confronted with major challenges from competitors because of technological change in the industry as well as having to expand their market penetration across Africa. A rising regulatory burden, tough economic conditions and the need to access low income markets, provide a significant organizational development challenge as a decades-old bank, known for a relational approach to banking, has to navigate the new domains of “fintech”, micro-lending and public sector banking.

Students will gain comprehensive insight into the industry environment in emerging markets, understand the strategic management challenge before financial services firms in this environment and be able to consider the alternative strategic interventions that may be used to ensure corporate sustainability amid these challenges. Simultaneously, the case provides a comprehensive view into the use and application of scenario-planning for strategic management.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS: 11: Strategy

The case on ABIL deals with the important issue of corporate governance, and particularly the crucial role that the board of directors plays. It highlights the complex issue institutional investors face when trying to assess the strength of a board and the quality of information and disclosure. The case is set in South Africa which is an emerging market.

The case targets MBA students and can be taught as part of a corporate governance or sustainable and responsible investment module or course. The case is aimed at both local and international students as the case deals with corporate governance principles that are applicable to both audiences. Where necessary, the case provides information to guide international audiences.

The teaching case is set on 6 August 2014 when Ian Matthews, the Head of Equities at a South African Asset Manager, BG Wealth, gets a call while on leave. The call is from his boss, chief investment officer, Deryck Medley, informing him of the negative trading update and asking him to come back to prepare for an emergency investment committee that afternoon. The case traces Matthews’ day as he reviews the research reports BG Wealth had put together on ABIL over the previous 15 months. Matthews also recalls the process the investment team went through internally before finally deciding to invest in the company. The case highlights not only the corporate governance failures of ABIL but also the lack of consideration given to ESG factors by BG Wealth.

The case’s primary teaching objective is to highlight the importance of corporate governance. The case provides detailed insights into the area of corporate governance through the analysis of a corporate failure. Through this teaching case, the students will follow the real-life events that led to the collapse of ABIL. It is intended that the students will be forced to deal with a complex situation and will be required to develop specific solutions to the issues raised.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

Razorpay is a four-year-old Indian B2B fintech startup in digital payments which is venturing into digital lending. It aims to simplify digital payment flows involved in acceptance, processing, and disbursement of payments through superior technology and automation. This case details how Razorpay creates value for businesses by offering service convenience in B2B space. Razorpay started as a payment solutions provider, primarily known for their payment gateway. Over time the market for digital payment in India has matured, with multiple providers offering similar products making it difficult for Razorpay to sustain its growth by using technological leadership and service differentiation. To maintain its growth trajectory, Razorpay has launched multiple new products in the digital payment space as well as announced a foray into creating a marketplace for digital lending through launch of Razorpay Capital. The case provides details of the growth of Razorpay and its move from its core strength of payment gateway

Zoe Greenwood, vice president at Foundation Investment Advisors, was glancing through the offering memorandum for a new commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) deal on April 1, 2010, a time when the opportunities for commercial mortgage investors had been bleak to the point of comical. This new CMBS deal represented the first opportunity to buy CMBS backed by loans to multiple borrowers since credit markets had shut the securitization pipeline in June 2008.

The offering gave Greenwood a new investment opportunity to suggest to her firm's latest client. She had planned to recommend an expansion in her client's traditional commercial mortgage business, but these new bonds looked intriguing. Could the new CMBS offer her client a superior risk-return tradeoff compared with making individual mortgage loans?

After students have analyzed the case they will be able to:

• –Learn how to construct promised cash flows from both commercial mortgages and commercial mortgage-backed securities

• –Understand the benefits and costs of direct lending versus indirect lending (purchase of mortgage-backed bonds)

• –Underwrite commercial mortgage loans issued by others to identify potentially hidden risks

• –Evaluate at what price a mortgage-bond investment makes financial sense

–Learn how to construct promised cash flows from both commercial mortgages and commercial mortgage-backed securities

–Understand the benefits and costs of direct lending versus indirect lending (purchase of mortgage-backed bonds)

–Underwrite commercial mortgage loans issued by others to identify potentially hidden risks

–Evaluate at what price a mortgage-bond investment makes financial sense

In the early months of the 2007-08 financial crises, a loan manager faces a real estate financing decision. Should he approve a bullet structure three-year loan to a longstanding client, a legendary Texan developer? The developer, who near retirement downsized his business, is seeking financing for his only project: residential or commercial development on an attractive piece of land in suburban Houston. The loan manager considers the decision in light of the mortgage market turmoil, seeing commercial projects as safer, but also factoring that the residential market could bring higher returns if the market stabilizes soon. The manager collects the data and asks an analyst to assess the risks; that ultimately requires assessing the economics of both projects from both the bank's and the developer's perspectives. The bank could still change the interest rate on the loan to receive adequate compensation for the risk it carries, but the loan manager knows that doing so will change their long-term client willingness to take on the loan.

In mid-February 2009, amid the global financial crisis, the news was grim. The U.S. economy had been in recession since December 2007. If the downturn lasted into early spring, it would become America's longest postwar recession. The economy had shed 3.5 million jobs over the previous 12 months, the worst 12-month period on record. Bank lending was plummeting; the few banks with funds available were holding onto them. With this massive shift into liquid assets (cash and cash equivalents) and away from lending of any sort (even for productive uses or, in many cases, the working capital firms needed to survive), the economy would likely grind to a halt. On this brisk mid-February day in Washington, Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke rolled up their sleeves and reevaluated their plans to address the nearly impossible task of righting the ship. In terms of monetary and fiscal policy, were they doing all they could to halt this epic slide? Were they doing too much?

After discussing this case, the authors expect that the students will have the following learnings: critically analyse the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) banking proposal, which was proposed by the Internal Working Group (IWG) in November 2020. Understand concepts such as connected lending, crony capitalism and financial crisis. Have a basic idea about the Banking Regulations Act, 1949 and regulatory framework in the Indian banking sector.

This case is an analysis of the recent RBI proposal on banking regulations in India. The authors have referred secondary data in terms of published papers by stalwarts and experts in the banking and economics field. This case analyses the pros and cons of the IWG proposal to RBI governing body. The case also touches upon interesting banking and macroeconomics concepts. What makes this case interesting is that RBI is open to receive comments from all the stakeholders till January 2021.

Applicable to undergraduate and postgraduate students studying banking and finance specialisation in commerce and business management streams.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

This case helps students to analyze non-financial and financial aspects of a company and observe quantitative and qualitative aspects of decisions and decide whether to invest or not and give suggestions to sell, buy or hold stocks. The case is expected to help the students understand and analyze the following points: the overall performance of the company and industry, how fundamental and technical analysis is applied to reach investment decisions, the areas where Jet Airways occupies the top position compared to peer group (competitor analysis), the company’s financial position and valuation with the help of tools and techniques and suggestions and observations to shareholders whether to buy/sell or hold shares.

This case can be used for MBA (Finance) students on equity research and valuation. Students are introduced to the fundamental procedures of equity research and analysis – evaluating sector desirability, financial modeling, equity valuation methods. To enhance research skills, students are required to acquire basic knowledge on macro and micro economic indicators. This case helps students to analyze non financial and financial aspects of a company and observe quantitative and qualitative aspects of decisions and decide whether to invest or not and give suggestions to sell, buy or hold stocks.

Mr Rahul, a consultant in Karvey brokerage house was about to leave the office on the evening of March 24, 2015 when the phone rang. It was Mr Srirag, one of his clients and close friends who was passionate about investing in shares. Mr Rahul with his two decades of experience in monitoring and advising various investment plans has been continuously advising Srirag on different investments in shares. Srirag said “Rahul! You know that I bought many shares in Jet Airways. While studying the annual reports of Jet Airways 2014-2015 about its business profits and losses, I came across a January to March, 2013 business quarter analysis report that wrote about Jet Airways facing a net loss of 4.95 billion rupees due to over debt burden and interest costs. It also stated that the company sold a 24 per cent stake in 2013 to Etihad for 332$ million which is an Abu Dhabi based airline. The news said that the deal would help the company overcome financial challenges, raise cash, cut costs and gain access to the global flight network. I am worried about whether this deal would allow the company to continue its operations from India or not. I am also concerned about the downfall of Kingfisher, a major setback in the aviation industry in India that owes 8,000 crores to its employees, banks, airports, oil companies. I am worried that either my investment in Jet Airways might bring huge losses or the partnership with Etihad airways would result in the reduction of costs and due to joint sales efforts, sharing resources and network integration thereby leading to a valuable share price. Since your guidance has helped in many issues, I would like to know the present condition and future prospectus prevailing in Jet Airways”. With a lot of ambiguity in his mind, he asked Rahul to recommend if he should hold or sell the shares in Jet Airways.

The case is expected to help the students understand and analyze the following points: the overall performance of the company and industry, how fundamental and technical analysis is applied to reach investment decisions, the areas where Jet Airways occupies the top position compared to peer group (Competitor analysis), the company’s financial position and valuation with the help of tools and techniques and suggestions and observations to shareholders on whether to buy/sell or hold shares.

The link to the following videos to be sent to participants in advance to help them prepare for the class. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3XJXTmILyk, Equity Research Presentation: Coca-Cola, www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5pEK_2uItg Write Equity Research Report, format, process, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMLJccgiSTk Equity Valuation and Analysis-Part I.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

New entrepreneurial businesses are one of the key drivers of innovation and economic development. However, one of their greatest obstacles is accessing capital, especially since they are often initially unprofitable and lack tangible assets in the first few years of operation. Since debt financing from banks can be difficult for them to obtain, their capacity for growth can be limited. This case introduces students to Kabbage, a company that reduced the barriers associated with start-up and microbusiness lending by using a fully automated, data-driven platform. Kabbage made instant decisions on whether these businesses should qualify for a line of credit by reviewing its clients’ electronic data, analyzed quickly and accurately using specific algorithms.

Given the applied nature of the case, the data were gleaned from a wide range of secondary sources, specifically popular business press which was verified for authenticity.

This case can be used in a variety of undergraduate courses. Some course examples include small business management, introduction to entrepreneurship or entrepreneurial finance.

The case study will help to learn about the importance of pre-sanction precautionary measures before lending to self-help groups (SHGs), to learn about the potential lapses and errors while sanctioning SHG finance and to learn about the importance of bank’s guidelines and compliance before sanctioning loans.

This case study details the tenure of Seema in a rural branch of Safe Bank of India located in Haryana which she joined as a manager in the year 2016. She overachieved the target given by the district collector office, and going by the tide, she kept her reliance on the references provided by non-government organization (NGO) without complying the bank’s instructions. She committed errors while sanctioning the loans, which led towards the upsurge of non-performing assets of the branch. Later on, after investigation it was discovered that she did not follow fundamental bank’s instructions. In wake of those lapses and errors, how she could have avoided those lapses and secure the public money? What were the most important documents while granting agriculture finance and what due diligence she should have taken? How did she treat calls from the government departments? Was she right in trusting the suggestions of the NGO?

This case study caters to students of various streams, namely, management, business administration and law, and can be targeted at both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It could be suitable for several types of courses and students. Furthermore, this case study can also be targeted for various training programmes for bank employees and employees of various lending institutions engaged in agriculture finance and credit linkage programmes.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 1: Accounting and finance.